Who makes the cut?

Ross, Curtis, Lavizzo and Key elementary schools were on a draft list of school closings and turnarounds that CPS distributed last week to selected grassroots organizations. But they weren’t on the final list that CPS released on Friday.

In all, six under-performing schools are on tap for turnarounds, a process that requires teachers, staff and school leaders to reapply for their jobs. Sixteen schools are slated to close for low enrollment.

Two turnarounds, at Fenger High and Yale Elementary, will be handled by the district’s Office of School Turnarounds. The nonprofit Academy for Urban School Leadership, which currently operates five turnaround schools, will take over Bethune and Holmes. Dulles and Johnson will be managed by the Office of New Schools, which is expected to contract out the work to ChicagoRise, a nonprofit formed by Chicago International Charter Schools and the NewSchools Venture Fund, and to Victory Schools, a national education management organization.

When the announcement finally came, four schools survived.

Ross, Curtis, Lavizzo and Key elementary schools were on a draft list of school closings and turnarounds that CPS distributed last week to selected grassroots organizations. But they weren’t on the final list that CPS released on Friday.

In all, six under-performing schools are on tap for turnarounds, a process that requires teachers, staff and school leaders to reapply for their jobs. Sixteen schools are slated to close for low enrollment.

Two turnarounds, at Fenger High and Yale Elementary, will be handled by the district’s Office of School Turnarounds. The nonprofit Academy for Urban School Leadership, which currently operates five turnaround schools, will take over Bethune and Holmes. Dulles and Johnson will be managed by the Office of New Schools, which is expected to contract out the work to ChicagoRise, a nonprofit formed by Chicago International Charter Schools and the NewSchools Venture Fund, and to Victory Schools, a national education management organization.

Beth Purvis, executive director of Chicago International, says contract negotiations with CPS are ongoing. She declined to specify the sticking points with the district. “We have to have the necessary conditions to successfully transform a school,” she says.

Based on available scores from the Prairie State Achievement Exam and ACT, Catalyst found 14 schools besides Fenger that meet the turnaround criteria set by CPS: Chicago Discovery, Chicago Vocational, Crane, Dyett, Hirsch, Manley, Marshall, Phillips, Richards, Robeson, School of Arts, School of Technology, Tilden, and Wells.

Based on the district’s criteria for elementary schools, 43 schools could have been subject to turnarounds. Seven of those schools are already in the program; five are newly slated for it. Another five will be closed or be phased out. Among the rest, many—such as Libby and O’Keeffe—have newly installed principals. (See the Excel list of schools)

Most of schools scheduled for closing are severely under-enrolled.

Here is the official list of closures and turnarounds:

Schools closing:

Nia

Foundations

Peabody

Princeton

South Chicago

Las Casas

Abbott

Davis Developmental

Medill

Schiller

Global Visions

Carpenter

Hamilton

Lathrop

Reed

Best Practices

Turnarounds by CPS Office of School Turnarounds

Fenger, Yale

Turnarounds by CPS Office of New Schools

Dulles, Johnson

Turnarounds by Academy for Urban School Leadership

Bethune, Holmes

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About Chicago Reporter

Founded on the heels of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, The Chicago Reporter confronts racial and economic inequality, using the power of investigative journalism. Our mission is national but grounded in Chicago, one of the most segregated cities in the nation and a bellwether for urban policies.